By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

Eight German graduate students who took part in a joint Tsinghua - RWTH Aachen masters program received their degrees at a graduation ceremony held at RWTH Aachen on the afternoon of November 16 (German time). It marks the first time Tsinghua has conferred degrees on foreign students in a foreign country.

President Gu Binglin of Tsinghua University and Rector Burkhard Rauhut of RWTH Aachen attended the ceremony and conferred the academic degrees on the graduates. More than 200 people participated in the ceremony, including RWTH Aachen faculty and students, Tsinghua students who studied at RWTH Aachen, and the graduates’ parents. Dr. Liu Jinghui, Minister-Counselor of Education from China’s Embassy in Germany, Dr. Christian Bode, DAAD Secretary-General, and Tsinghua Vice President Wang Jinsong were also present for the ceremony.

Tsinghua President Gu congratulated and presented a gift to each graduate student. He expressed his hope that they would each work hard after graduation to make a contribution to the development and welfare of society.

Dr. Rauhut congratulated the students on their accomplishments. He confirmed the competitive capabilities of the joint masters program graduates and hoped the program will continue to grow and make progress in the future.

Dr. Liu Jinghui and Dr. Christian Bode also spoke at the ceremony. Each stressed the importance of international communications and exchange.

A graduate who received his masters degree said that he was thankful for the joint masters program, especially for giving him the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture.

The Sino-German Joint Project for Graduate Education agreement was signed into being by Germany’s Federal Minister of Education and Research Ms. Bulmahn and China’s Minister of Education Mrs. Chen Zhili in 1999. Tsinghua University and RWTH Aachen were appointed as the pioneer collaborative institutional partners for this project. The first group of Tsinghua students started their 18-month coursework at Aachen in 2001. Since then Tsinghua has sent students to Aachen every year and hosted German students to study at Tsinghua. In a similar ceremony in 2004, the first group of Tsinghua University graduate students who took part in the joint masters program received their degrees at Tsinghua University. From 2001 to September of 2007, 155 Tsinghua students have studied at RWTH-Aachen and 73 RWTH-Aachen students have studied at Tsinghua.

Founded in 1870, RWTH-Aachen (Rheinisch-Westfalisch Technische Hochschule Aachen，RWTH-Aachen ) is one of the biggest universities in Europe, ranking among the very best science and engineering universities in Germany.

(Photo by Zhu Wenyi)